Let’s face it, most clinical trials face the problem of actual patient accrual falling well below expected goals. And with the ever growing number of clinical trials (at any point in time, there are at least 40,000 trials active) and the increasing number of patient per clinical trial, this problem is not going to fade away easily.
So time for some new tactics. Let’s start by looking at this problem from the point of view of the subject. Hmm, that’s new isn’t? From the Subject’s angle, participating in a trial is usually not to the best of his/her personal interest. Okay, there is a chance that he/she might get a novel treatment. But can we guarantee to the best of our knowledge that this novel treatment is any better than the arm(s) with existing treatment(s)? No, we can’t, that’s why we call it a trial.
Thus we need to convince people in order for them to participate in a trial. A basic rule in marketing says: “To succeed in getting people to do something you want them to do, you must offer them something they value in return.”
In a commercial transaction, this is easy to accomplish. But how about clinical trials? The key part in our marketing rule is the last part of the line ‘offer something they value in return’.
First of all, we must establish what people perceive as ‘value’ in the context of a clinical trial. Although we can make some educated guesses (like ‘I might get a new treatment which might cure my disease’ or ‘It helps to improve medical treatment’), the best thing to do would be to ask the actual stakeholder, yes, the patient himself (herself).
Once you know what the reason is for participation, you could invite some study participants for a video interview elaborating their trial participation/motivation. And post these video’s on your Study website. What would be more convincing than hearing another patient explain why they participate?
Now that we know what constitutes ‘value’, how do we supply ‘value’? In my belief, they best of value you can supply is information. If patients participate because they believe it helps to improve treatment, you could supply ‘value’ to them by informing them on the current status of treatment (for their disease), and more importantly, on the results of the clinical study they are (have been) participating. Even if the outcome is negative, provide feedback. Create a secure web environment where only participating patients have access to the study results and give them regular updates. Similar, though in easier-to-understand language, to the study results you supply to the Clinical Sites (you are doing that aren’t you ?).
Next week another Blog post on Patient retention in clinical trials. So stay tuned.
